


Business as Usual

by ohmytheon



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-10
Updated: 2014-06-10
Packaged: 2018-02-04 02:45:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1763279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmytheon/pseuds/ohmytheon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Catelyn Stark is the perfect CEO whose company Tywin Lannister can swoop in and take after her husband's passing - except that she most certainly isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Business as Usual

“No,” she tells him, and Tywin feels a strange mixture of both resentment and arousal stir inside of his chest. It feels a lot like fire licking at his insides. It’s just the thing to motivate him to push further, but this time, unlike all the other times, he knows that he’s not going to get what he wants.

And Tywin Lannister is not a man that is used to _not_ getting what he wants.

He sees it in the set of her jaw, which is sharp; the way her blue eyes have locked onto his green ones, icy and bright at the same time; how relaxed hands are on the table, folded together and sitting on top of her manila folder with his [proposal](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/84263900754/business-as-usual-catelyn-x-tywin-modern-au#) inside; the way she sits, tall and still and so very unmoving like a statue. This is a woman who had made her decision and is not going to change her mind. He knows this because it’s the same thing he sees every morning in his own reflection.

This woman has lost her husband and [oldest son](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/84263900754/business-as-usual-catelyn-x-tywin-modern-au#) within a year of each other, one to a fatal mugging and the other to a car crash. It’s only been two months since her son’s death. The boy was poised to take over the company in a few years time after his father’s death, but instead the company was passed down to the widow. She should be weak. She should be _broken_.

Tywin is not a kind-hearted man. He’s not known for his gentle behavior. The idea of giving people time to do anything is a foreign concept for him when he runs on his own time and expects people to run on the same. In fact, he had been deliberate in his timing concerning this company takeover. His sons, Jaime and Tyrion, both gave reservations about trying to go after the Stark business so soon after Robb Stark’s death, but Tywin knew better. The timing had to be perfect. It had to be cold. It had to be shocking. He didn’t want to give the new CEO time to recuperate long enough to get back on her feet and [start](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/84263900754/business-as-usual-catelyn-x-tywin-modern-au#) anew. He wanted her done with the company. He wanted her tired.

Instead, he found her ready to fight and make a stand.

“No?” he finally responds, a not particularly well thought response, but the only thing he can think of. He did not even entertain the idea that he would have to fight for this. These days, he doesn’t have to fight for much. Most people are too intimidated by him and he’s clever besides.

Catelyn Stark, as the saying goes, is not most people though. “No,” she repeats in the same even tone. “Your offer isn’t even flattering. The company is worth nearly twice of what you’re offering and its net worth is projected to be triple that within ten years.”

“I’m not sure if you’ve seen your stocks, Mrs. Stark–”

“It’s Catelyn,” she interrupts, “and yes, I’ve seen [the stocks](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/84263900754/business-as-usual-catelyn-x-tywin-modern-au#) and I know how much it’s dropped in the past year, but the [points](http://ohmytheon.tumblr.com/post/84263900754/business-as-usual-catelyn-x-tywin-modern-au#) will hold steady and rise again.” At this, she stands up from the table. Catelyn is not a very threatening person, but she cuts a striking figure in her black power suit when she wants to make an impression. And she has made an impression on him, by far more than anyone has in years. “I’m sure you recall many years ago when Riverrun Corporations was around. It was a small yet promising company, one that my father and his father before him had owned for many years. I’m the one that brokered the deal to combine Riverrun and Winterfell Inc. I’m the one that came up with the idea to begin with, not my late husband or his father or brother. I’m the one that enabled the smooth transition that enabled Riverrun to flourish under Winterfell.”

Tywin cannot help but feel a hint of amazement, though he did not let it show on his face. All these years, everyone has been under the assumption that the brilliant combination of Winterfell Inc. and Riverrun Corp. was due to the thinking of the long since passed CEOs Rickard Stark and Hoster Tully respectively. He had no idea that it had been Hoster’s oldest daughter, who was only in her early twenties at the time, who came up with the idea and then carried it out. This was all before her marriage to Winterfell’s CEO Ned Stark, too. Clearly, though he is loath to admit it, Tywin had not done his research properly.

“So if you think that you can push me over with this lowball offer on the company that my husband’s family has held onto for years and that I plan to pass down to my remaining children, you need to reconsider, Mr. Lannister,” Catelyn tells him, a look of pride flashing in her eyes. “Just because my husband and son died does not mean I’m going to lie down and give up. Winterfell Inc. will be a contender again. Business is a competition; and I don’t intend to play nicely.”

For a while, neither of them says anything. They merely look at each other, assessing one another in what has to be one of the most verbally vicious business meetings Tywin has ever attended – and that’s say something, considering he has torn down and ended companies with mere words. He knows that he viewed her wrongly now. He saw the pictures of her mourning – he saw her alone – he saw her struggling – when really he should have seen her fighting and working tirelessly.

“Do you really think that you can come back from this?” Tywin asks, standing up as well. “This is a one-time offer. You should give it more time to consider, lest you lose everything.”

“I know that you think you know what’s going on in this company,” Catelyn says, sliding the manila folder across the table back to him, “but the inside trader information that Roose Bolton gave you isn’t the whole picture.” When Tywin raises an eyebrow, Catelyn smiles at him. It is not a warm smile, the kind of smile he imagines that she normally gives, but it’s a triumphant one nonetheless. “Perhaps you can give him a job when I sack him after this meeting adjourns for his loyalty to you and not to us. I can tell where those numbers came from.”

Tywin hums a little, fingering the edges of the folder. “You’re ruthless. I honestly didn’t see you as such.”

“I’m protective of what is mine and my family’s,” Catelyn corrects him. “Surely you can understand. Casterly Rock was near bankruptcy when you became CEO after your father stepped down because of that scandal.”

It takes everything in Tywin not to cringe. He hates remembering those times. The embarrassment he felt after finding out that his father had been using money from the business accounts to blow money on his favorite prostitute and then having all that come out in the papers was not pleasant. It has been so long since then and he’s made sure to keep Casterly Rock in tip top shape and away from scandals, no matter how much his children try to muck it up despite all his threats. Winterfell Inc. has that on them. They’ve always been so clean, so pristine. He wants that. Casterly Rock may be strong now, but it’s still tainted by scandal after all those years.

“Well, I can see that this is going nowhere and my offer on your company is dead,” Tywin says (though he tells himself that he can always try again at another time). Catelyn nods her head slightly, the stony look on her face slowly disappearing. She is a good woman, warm and loving. He knows that. But just because she is kind does not mean she cannot be vicious as well. He knows that now too. “But how about another offer.”

“Another offer?” Catelyn replies skeptically.

“What would you say about dinner? Tomorrow night?”

The look of surprise on her face is enough to make Tywin actually smile, though it’s more smug than anything and very faint. “Dinner?” She even sounds surprised, her voice light and confused. “I… Well, I’d have to find…” She bites her lip and looks outside the glass windows of the room in the building, but no one is watching them. No one is listening. They’re alone. “What time?”

“How does eight o’clock sound?” he asks. “I can have my chauffer pick you up.”

“I’d rather drive myself,” she tells him, which isn’t a yes, but it most certainly isn’t a no either. “I… Yes, sure, but only dinner and you know that your offer is dead. If you even mention it once…”

“No need to threaten,” Tywin says. “I’m not a fan of wasting my time.” He pulls his wallet out of the pocket on the inside of his suit jacket, finds a business card, and slides it across the table to her, just as she had done with the folder containing his offer. “You have my number. I have yours. I’ll call you around seven tomorrow. Good day, Catelyn.”

And with that, he leaves the office. Though he did not leave with what he wanted originally, Tywin feels a certain sort of satisfaction at the stunned look on Catelyn’s face and the way she nervously flips his business card between her fingers.


End file.
